e.

Lady Thryng found it possible to have a few words with the lawyer before
David appeared, and impressed upon him the necessity of interesting her
son in this new field by showing him avenues for power and work.

"I don't quite understand the boy," she said. "After seeing the world
and going his own way, I really thought he would outgrow that sort of
moody sentimentalism, but it seems to be returning. He is quixotic
enough to turn away from everything here and go back to Canada, unless
you can awaken his interest."

"I see, I see," said the lawyer.

"Mere personal ambition will not satisfy him," added his mother,
proudly. "He must see opportunities for service. He must understand that
he is needed."

"I see. I understand. He must be dealt with along the line of his nobler
impulses--ahem--ahem--" and David appeared.

His mother rose and took his arm to walk out to dinner, while Laura, who
should have gone with Mr. Stretton, did not see his proffered arm, but,
provokingly indifferent, strolled out by herself.

David, absorbed in his own thoughts, did not notice his sister's
careless mien, but the mother observed the independent and boyish swing
of her daughter's shoulders, and resented it with a slightly reproving
glance after they were seated.

Laura lifted her eyebrows and one shoulder with an irritating half
shrug. "What is it, mamma?" she asked, but Lady Thryng allowed the
question to go unheeded, and turned her attention to the two gentlemen
during the rest of the meal.

All through dinner David was haunted by Cassandra's talk with him, the
night he dreamed she was being swept out of his arms forever by a swift,
cold current which, from a little purling stream high up on a mountain
top, had become a dark, relentless flood, overwhelming them utterly.
What was she doing now? Did she know she was in that terrible flood? Was
she really being swept from him? Ah, never, never! He would not allow
it, if he must break all hearts but hers.

The meal progressed sombrely and heavily, with much ceremony, although
they were so few. Was his mother practising for the future that she kept
such rigid state? He suspected as much, and that Laura was being trained
to the right way of carrying herself, but that and the real sorrow of
the family over their bereavement made a most oppressive atmosphere.
Might this be the shadow Cassandra had seen lying across their future?
Only a passing cloud--a vapor; it must be only that.